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We Try It: Buying a Wedding Dress Online

[dropcap3 variation=”black”]I[/dropcap3]’m going to begin this review with a little timeline. Mr. qSS and I got engaged in August of last year. We had been together for four years, and lived together for more than three of them. We didn’t see much point in a long engagement. We probably would have been married before the year was out, but he needed surgery, and then we were in the thick of holiday season, which meant that I had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a weekend off from work. Soon after the holidays passed, I found myself out of work for a couple months with an injury, which left me plenty of time to do some wedding planning. There was a problem, though. We didn’t have a set date. Which meant that the local bridal shops I visited wouldn’t even let me make an appointment to look at dresses to decide what worked for my figure. I had a terrible experience at my nearest David’s Bridal, so that was a no-go as well.

So I did what any reasonable person would do, I decided, “Fuck that, I’ll just get a cute white dress from Target.” And that’s what I did. It was a cute little white strapless chiffon number:

Photo from target.com

It was adorable in the pictures, and the price was right, at around 70 bucks. Unfortunately, when it arrived, I found it to be flimsy, entirely too sheer, and was unable to get it zipped up due to my, um, ample bosom. I was heartbroken, but soon rallied. I found a couple dresses on eShakti.com, but wasn’t able to pull the trigger. I think part of it was because the dresses were on forms, rather than a real person. Everything looks good on a dress form.

As luck would have it, since becoming engaged, my Facebook ads had been filled with rings, resorts, and bridesmaid dresses. One of them was an ad for Weddington Way. Something something about letting your bridesmaids vote on their dresses. I had decided there were two requirements for my future wedding dress: it had to be knee-length and it had to have pockets. I hoped against hope that one of these bridesmaids dresses were available in a white-ish shade and would meet my requirements.

What I encountered was nothing short of genius. The idea of the site is that the bride picks out a bunch of dresses that she likes for her bridesmaids, they vote on it, and then the bridesmaids order their dresses. Once all the orders are placed, the dresses go into production, and are ready in six to eight weeks.

What I decided to do was a little different. I picked out a bunch of dresses (all available in some shade in the white family) I thought were pretty, and sent out email invites to a slew of my friends.

There were actually about 20 of my “favorites” to choose from. Photo from weddingtonway.com

I reminded my friends (and mom – I wanted her involved even though she lives a thousand miles away!) to take into account my figure, personality, and the venue (a local park). All told, I got about 15 friends to vote on dress styles. Here are my best friend’s choices:

photo from weddingtonway.com

Admittedly, the dress that was her first choice (as well as my mom’s) was also the one I fell in love with at first sight. I wasn’t strapless! It was knee-length! It had pockets! It looked like I’d be able to breathe and wear a normal bra! And I was pretty sure it would accentuate the positive (my boobaliciousness), while hiding what I wasn’t as comfortable with. And it was under $200, so even if I haaaaaated it, It wouldn’t kill me to go buy a sundress from the Ann Taylor store across from my work. I took the plunge.

I have to sing the praises of the customer service rep that I dealt with, who kept me updated through the whole process and kept me calm when FedEx insisted that my address didn’t exist on delivery day. Thanks, Carmella!

The dress fit like a dream, without a single alteration. The only special undergarment I had to purchase was a half slip, although some double-sided tape would have come in handy at some points on the big day.

Here’s the final product:

Mrs. & Mr. qSS!

The verdict:

If any of y’all soon-to-be-marrieds are looking for quality dresses for yourself or your bridesmaids (they have approximately a zillion color choices), I highly recommend Weddington Way. The Facebook ads are a little cheesy, but they make up for it with good prices, quality product, and fantastic customer service. There is no need to fear buying an occasion dress online!

12 thoughts on “We Try It: Buying a Wedding Dress Online”

I’mÂ hesitantÂ withÂ online shopping for wedding dress needs. Last year I bought my bridesmaids dress online from bhldn.com Â it was a bit expensive ($350) so I assumed that meantÂ qualityÂ and it had a great color and shape. I ordered a size up too justÂ in case.Â But Â when I got it the zipper stuck, like a lot Â even when it was just on the hanger. It fit fine, aside from the sticky zipper, but I only tried it on once or twice before the big day. While getting ready on my bffs wedding day the damn sticky zipper broke! Â MyÂ lovelyÂ friends Macgyered it shut and it stayed put but I was still pretty pissed that a dress that cost that much fell apart so easily, the cheapÂ plasticÂ zipper should have been a clue.

I have a terrible time finding dresses when I’m looking for something in particular. It’s always hours of going from store to store, becoming increasingly more demoralized with every ill-fitting thing I try on. I knew I couldn’t handle the traditional wedding dress shopping process. I had an idea of some of the things I wanted (sleeves! knee- or tea-length! blue sash!) so I googled around some phrases. I found this one from Dolly Couture almost immediately, and I LOVED it. It was more than I had wanted to spend, so I kept looking but finally I was like, fuck it, this is the dress I want, I can’t find anything else even remotely similar in my size. I’m getting it.

I was a little nervous because we had a short engagement, and it only arrived the week before the wedding. Fortunately, they are a great, and all I needed were some minor adjustments to bring in the chest (always, even when I take measurements, the chest is always too big) and let out the waist about 1/2 inch, which my local tailor did in like a three-day turnaround for under $100. I could have gotten away with wearing it as-is, but the comfort was worth the alterations, minor as they were. It was adorable, and the whole thing would have been worth not having to shop at even twice the price.

My mom was a little disappointed that she didn’t get the “going wedding dress shopping” experience with me, but I took her to the tailor with me for my fitting, which she enjoyed.

I love the dress you ended up with. In fact, I think it was one of the ones I voted for! I usually have good luck with special-occasion dress shopping online (sometimes it’s my only option, since I’m a giant). I need to give eShakti another try. I did the “send your measurements” thing and ordered three dresses, and all of them ended up about two bust sizes too big. Still not sure how that happened.

I have yet to have a good experience with eShakti. Three times they’ve messed up my order. My soon-to-be-married friend recently sent me a link to this place, which looks super promising. It’s mostly bridesmaid dresses, but not ugly ones, and there’s a ton of variation in sizes, styles, and colors.Â http://www.shopjoielle.com/